La Liga champions expect Brazilian stopper to inform Chelsea he wants to join Barcelona…
Barcelona expect 26-year-old centre-half David Luiz to tell Chelsea he wants to quit Stamford Bridge, to push through a move to the Nou Camp, according to The Daily Mail.
The Catalan giants have already had one bid for the Brazilian rejected, and Jose Mourinho has warned Barcelona that they are wasting their time chasing the player who had such an impressive Confederations Cup earlier this summer.
“The bid? It’s lost time for them,’ said Chelsea’s Portuguese boss.
“My advice to them is to go to the second player on their list because they are wasting their time. We don’t want to lose our best players. No chance.”
Barcelona believe that Luiz is acquirable, and Mourinho is merely trying to drive up the price. If the defender tells his club he wants to leave, it is unlikely they will stand in his way if they receive a whopping £40m fee.
David Luiz is a stylish defender, who is praised for his technical attributes, but often criticised for his defensive failings. His Portuguese manager has traditionally favoured solid no-nonsense centre-halves rather than modern ball-playing ones, meaning Luiz could perhaps be allowed to leave if a large enough offer was made.
The Catalan club have been targeting a new centre-back all summer, but have been rebuffed in their attempts to sign primary target Thiago Silva from PSG. To rub salt in their wounds, PSG also snapped up 19-year-old Marquinhos from Roma, who was said to be Barcelona’s backup plan if they failed to sign Brazil captain Thiago Silva.
As a result, Barcelona are still very short in central defence. While Gerard Pique is expected to start in defence for years to come, his defensive partner Carlos Puyol is injury prone and ageing. Barcelona have regularly had to use midfielders like Javier Mascherano or Alex Song alongside Pique – and played the inexperienced Marc Bartra in their Champions League semi-final defeat to Bayern Munich.
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